Irish singer and songwriter Anthony John Clarke returns for a Mainstay FallFest Concert in Rock Hall at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday September 24. Tickets are $15. For information and reservations call 410-639-9133. Information is also available at the Mainstay’s
website.
Anthony John Clarke who has played in hundreds of clubs and festivals in the UK, Europe, Australasia and, less frequently, in the USA is also a favorite at the Mainstay. His finely crafted songs and stories are based on his experiences in his native Ireland and in the UK. Mainstay Founder-Director Tom McHugh says “[his] songs range far and wide, covering the whole range of Irish…no human…joys and frailties. From a song about an innocent Irishman on the border who is earning a few pounds making a delivery, and is assassinated for it….to nuns singing karaoke…Anthony John will make you cry, laugh and think when he sings.”
Clarke was born in Belfast in 1956. He started songwriting at the age of nine but it was not until when he left Ireland for England as a young man that he actively pursued his passion for writing. Since then he has recorded twelve albums, three CD singles and published two songbooks.
He has made his mark on the British contemporary folk scene with songs like “Irish Eyes” and the beautiful “Seven In Ireland”. About the craft of songwriting he says, “The songwriter has a responsibility. It’s not enough to put a tune to some words or some words to a tune. The song is a vehicle for a notion that the writer has about something. If it wasn’t, then the song would have no beginning, middle or end. It’s not complicated. The notion is what starts the process and the completed song is the fruition. It invites others into the notion, the idea, the feeling, the celebration, the private moment. And if you can provide a laugh or two along the way it gets my vote.” And besides, “Once you let a song under your skin it’s harder to remove than a tattoo.”
An accomplished entertainer, he often has pub audiences in Britain singing along with gusto to the choruses of such vastly different songs as ‘The Only Life Gloria Knows’, ‘Blame it on Dolores’ and ‘Tuesday Night is Always Karaoke.” He believes that “people don’t leave the house to be bored to death. You have a responsibility to entertain and avoid being self-indulgent. I avoid being professionally Irish as much as I can. Just because I’m an Irish songwriter doesn’t mean I can’t love the Kinks and the Small Faces.”
The concert with Anthony John Clarke is one of two at the Mainstay that are part of Rock Hall FallFest. The Friday night concert with the Deanna Bogart Band is sold out.
The Mainstay (Home of Musical Magic) is the friendly informal storefront performing arts center on Rock Hall’s old time Main Street. It is a 501(c)(3), non profit dedicated to the arts, serving Rock Hall and the surrounding region and committed to presenting local, regional and national level talent, at a reasonable price, in an almost perfect acoustic setting. Wine, beer, sodas and snacks are available at the bar. The Mainstay is supported by ticket sales, fundraising including donations from friends and audience members and an operating grant from the Maryland State Arts Council. . For information and reservations call 410-639-9133. More information is also available at the Mainstay’s website.
Upcoming Mainstay performances include:
Oct. 2 Aleksi Glick Trio
Oct. 8 USNA Commandant’s Combo – free concert
Oct. 16 Pyxis Piano Trio
Oct. 20 Max’x Mainstay All-Stars Reunion
Oct. 22 Dance Party with Vic Vacuum & the Attachments
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